International Artist-In-Residence

Each year the international artist-in-residence program invites nine artists to conceive and create pivotal art projects.

About the residency

Three times a year, Artpace invites a guest curator to choose three artists to live and create art in San Antonio for two months. Each residency cycle includes one international, one national, and one Texas-based artist. Each resident receives a studio space, honoraria, production money, and the support of a full-time staff. The artworks created are exhibited for two months at Artpace and go on to appear in private and public collections worldwide. All art made during the residency belongs to the artist. The mission of the program is to provide artists with unparalleled resources that allow them to experiment with new ideas, take provocative risks, and realize innovative and ambitious new artworks.

While in residence, the artists are encouraged to share their ideas and become involved with the San Antonio and Texas art communities. Public programs such as the Open Studios and Artists’ Dialogues serve to connect audiences with Artpace resident artists. Artpace’s physical and online archives provide permanent access to residency documentation and scholarship. The projects also live on in scholarly essays authored by the program’s renowned guest curators, which offer a critical overview of the artwork made and shown at Artpace.

The Guest Curator

Artpace invites one guest curator to select three artists—one international, one national, and one Texas-based—for each residence. These curators reflect a lively diversity of backgrounds, approaches, and regions, hailing from around the world, from Senegal and Korea to Mexico and Artpace’s home state of Texas. One year before the residency, the guest curator recommends his or her selections for national and international residents, and travels to Texas to conduct field work in studios statewide. The guest curator is encouraged to stay connected to the residents throughout the course of the two-month residency. The guest curator returns to San Antonio for the Public Opening Reception at the end of the residency to see the completed work and moderate a public conversation, the Artists’ Dialogue, featuring the residents on the evening of the opening. Guest curators also contribute scholarly essays about the work of each of their chosen residents, which are distributed to university and public libraries, museum archives, and Artpace’s online Archive and Resource Library.

Artist Selection

Artpace invites internationally-recognized curators to select the resident artists. Unsolicited applications for the International Artist-in-Residence program are not considered.

For Texas-based artists, Artpace hosts an online Texas Open Call. Artist submissions are considered on an annual basis for a statewide shortlist, which guest curators use as a resource in making their Texas-based selection for the International Artist-in-Residence program.